Turkey's Coast Guard Says 2 Russians Among Crew Of Sunken Cargo Ship

ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2021) There are two Russian nationals among the crew of the cargo ship that sank off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Sunday, the coast guard confirmed to Sputnik.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport told Sputnik that there were two Russians aboard the sunken vessel. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, in turn, confirmed that 10 Ukrainians were a part of the crew. The Turkish authorities earlier reported that four sailors had died and six others had been rescued.

"In total, there were 12 people aboard the cargo ship, two of them are Russians. The varying death figures may be due to very bad weather conditions in the area. We can undoubtedly confirm the death of one person, we have recovered their body. As for the rest, rescuers could have seen them from a distance or assumed their death based on the conditions at the scene. We are continuing the rescue operation to get to the five people," the Turkish coast guard said.

The official noted that there is no information about the nationality of those rescued and the one who has been confirmed dead.

The Seafarers' Union of Russia earlier told Sputnik that the vessel was deregistered from Russian flag back in 1997 and is now operated by Ukrainian company Tesoro Marine.